Manara - Qatar Research Repository
Browse

Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of fall-related injuries: a retrospective study

Version 2 2024-12-01, 05:43
Version 1 2022-11-22, 21:17
journal contribution
posted on 2024-12-01, 05:43 authored by Ahammed Mekkodathil, Ayman El-Menyar, Ahad Kanbar, Suhail Hakim, Khalid Ahmed, Tariq Siddiqui, Hassan Al-Thani

Background

Fall-related injuries are important public health problem worldwide. We aimed to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of fall-related injuries in a level 1 trauma center.

Method

A retrospective analysis of Qatar Trauma Registry data was conducted on patients admitted for fall-related injuries between 2010 and 2017. Comparative analyses of data by gender, age-groups and height of falls were performed to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients, and in-hospital outcomes.

Results

A total of 4040 patients with fall-related injuries were identified in the study duration which corresponds to the rate of 2.34 per 10,000 population. Although the rate of fall-related injuries decreased over the years, the average number of patients per year remained high accounting for 32% of the hospitalized patients with moderate to severe injuries. Most of the injuries affected the head (36%) followed by spines (29%) and chest (23%). Males were predominant (89%), more likely to fall at workplace, fall from a greater height and have polytrauma than females. The working age-group (20–59 years) constituted the majority of injured (73%) and were more likely to fall at workplace, and to fall from higher heights compared to the older adults who sustained more fall at home. Overall in-hospital mortality was 3%. Outcomes including longer hospital length of stay and mortality were generally correlated with the height of fall except for the fall at home.

Conclusion

Fall-related injuries remain as significant burden even in a level 1 trauma center. Variations in the pattern of injuries by age, gender and height of fall provide important information for targeted preventive measures.

Other Information

Published in: BMC Public Health
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
See article on publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09268-2

Funding

Open access funding provided by the Qatar National Library.

History

Language

  • English

Publisher

Springer Nature

Publication Year

  • 2020

License statement

This Item is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Institution affiliated with

  • Hamad General Hospital - HMC
  • Hamad Medical Corporation
  • Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar

Methodology

A retrospective analysis of Qatar Trauma Registry data was conducted on patients admitted for fall-related injuries between 2010 and 2017. Comparative analyses of data by gender, age-groups and height of falls were performed to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients, and in-hospital outcomes.

Geographic coverage

Qatar

Usage metrics

    Hamad General Hospital - HMC

    Licence

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC